Thursday, April 12, 2012

IPL Review

After a long time , i have decided to post something in my blog again… but I dont know what to post. Rants and Raves are not my cup of tea nor is a movie review, as I hardly see new ones.Its not that I dont see new movies, but I watch them after I am pretty sure that its a good one. So by the time I review one, it would futile for the readers to even click on my link. Publishing pictures is again another area where I would definitely try my hands on as I do take a lot of pictures, but I am too lazy to post them online. Poems around love, romance and haikus used to be my forte, which surprisingly isnt so for the last few months. So I have deicided to post a review about a movie kinda fare, which opened with big expectations but unfolded so badly like a Vijay movie[pls 4give fans of vj{ if that group still exists } ]. Its going to be about IPL our Indian cricket team . Feel free to post your thoughts as comments, but please be polite & courteous to others.

In our country, cricket is the more than a sport or religion, it is a passion. Just like every other acts of mimickry that we do with the westeners, we have embraced the game and have taken it to the next level , which was not even possible in its own country. There used to be a time when cricket was an uniting factor for all the Indians, but today it is a differentiating one. The whole concept of IPL has changed our Indian cricket , only for the worse. How is this going to affect India’s position in the ICC ? How it might affect India and Indians? Lets look at some of the probabilities, but believe me, some of these probabilities might have already turned into realities!

Any team will perform well, only if it has 1) a good leader,2) an achievable target and 3)most of all teamspirit/ friendship(or alteast good terms of understanding) among the players. Until the IPL happened, the team was gelling well and we sensed the positive vibes and it showed when India won the Inaugural ICC WT20 championships. For the cricketers, accolades and adulations poured in followed by millions of US dollars. One shrewd business mind aka Lalit Modi, identified the opportunity to dig gold at the expense of Indian cricket and created IPL. Earlier we used to have one captain and one VC to be used as a stand-in skipper.. The team used to look to the skipper for inspiration and encouragement. There used to be bowling and batting partners who would put their best for India. So there was friendship and teamspirit in the Indian team. But today IPL has opened a pandora box, where by almost 8 of the 11 best players of India(the numbers may increase with the creation of Kochi & Pune teams), can guide a team with both Indian and foreign players. While it brings out the best leadership skills in them, it also creates a rift between the players themselves who will not gell together when they come back to play for the country. The cash providing corporates are hell bent on driving these players to hell. First of all, IPL was supposed to be only an entertainment. Cricket is a game and not business. Even their stocks dont keep rising, but they expect their team to win all the games and put the players under unnecessary stress levels. Sports itself is about relieving your stress and not getting into one. The corporates who own the IPL are percieving it as a business assignment. I wonder what do they get if their team wins the final of IPL??? Were they not supposed to promote the sports? What was the need to play almost 2 months of tiring IPL, a domestic tournament until 5 days before an important international tournament like WT20? Was IPL not a promise of pure sports and bringing new talents for the better of Indian cricket? Is Lalit Modi the sole culprit of India’s debacle? The answer is a big NO!. BCCI is also equally responsible for the disastrous show.

India has been bragging a lot about its unique unity in diversity factor which amusingly we can see only in the last 100 years or so, when a lot of states ruled by different kings and people speaking different languages, following different religion were forced to unite, by the racist acts of a powerful imperialist nation. We have not even completed a century of united India but we have faitfully went back to our old ways, by differentiating among ourselves based on state and language to the extent of even depriving millions of water. And now one more factor has come in our way, our own backyard IPL team! Bhajji for whom you used to pray 2 years ago is now your hate-list. Folks who once batted for Dravid, are now plotting his downfall in their minds.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t support a team or have a favourite one in IPL, but the way in which you chose your team is what pitiable; supporting an IPL team based on your state is the worst form of sectarianism or racism. People who are not interested in such sectarian thoughts are slowly brain-washed by the regional FMs and TV channels. Why do tamil channels have to give score updates of only Chennai matches? Wont any tamilian be interested to know Ganguly’s score or cheer for Sehwag? We were united as one big nation many a times in the past, but as soon as the ruling power wanes, we have disintegrated and been an easy prey for others. One just can hope that the history doesnt repeat itself. Is this like making a storm out of tea cup or is it going to be a butterfly effect? Only time can tell and I wish to be an optimist!